This week Manufacturing’s Winner & Loser of the week are a little bit different than previous weeks. Instead of just one person or company in each category, the winner and loser position were given to broader groups of people. Take a look and see who ‘won’ and ‘lost’ this week.

General Pipe Cleaners introduces the new spider cutter, a double cutter with front and rear blades. This new cutter begins cutting when the cable is fed into the line and continues to cut as it retracts, removing stubborn stoppages.

There are 36 ships anchored offshore waiting to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Despite a new contract for dockworkers, there's still an enormous backlog of cargo waiting to be shipped overseas.

State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said that it may have been "a mistake" for Tennessee to subsidize the development of the General Motors plant outside Nashville because it has a United Auto Workers union contract.

An activist group on Thursday backed off its earlier announcement that it would to try to get a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing on the Colorado ballot and said it would instead try to persuade Gov. John Hickenlooper to halt the practice.

Fiat Chrysler has announced another recall - the second in two days. Yesterday, it was announced that nearly 26,000 midsize cars would be recalled. Today, the automotive company announced that 467,000 SUVs would be joining the list of the companies recalled vehicles.

A survey by the Greater Baton Rouge Industrial Alliance finds most of the Baton Rouge area's major industrial employers expect spending and employment at the plants to remain the same or expand during the next six months.

If small businesses embrace lean manufacturing as part of their company’s overall strategy, long-term strategic benefits are possible, including increased profits, decreased costs and long-term efficiency gains, all of which are critical to running successful organizations.